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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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H metitoridl Sermon 



DELIVERED BEFORE 



.fi SINER POST, No. 1], G. i II. 

AND W. R. C. Nos. i. AND 3, 



BY THE 



Rev. ALEX. C. GARNER, 

Pastor of PLYMOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 

Cor. 17TH AND P Streets N.W. 




SU BJ ECT : SI '^^^V 

PRINCIPLE OF PATRIOTISM^* 



SUNDAY, EVENING, MAY 2s, 
1902. 



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PRINCIPLE OF PATRIOTISM 

'^ IVfio loved me and giive himself foi' me.'" — Gal. 2: 2u. 



Montesquieu iu his Spirit of Laws gives the three 
forms of goverumeut as republicao, monarchical and 
despotic. He says that tlie great uecessit}^ in a repub- 
lic is virtue, in monarchy, honor, in a despotic govern- i 
ment, fear. We live in a democracy, then virtue is \\ 
necessary, not virtue in its ordinary sense, but virtue ^ 
ill its ancient sense, i. e. stamina, manliness, political 
goodness — which presupposes individual rectitude. 
The state leans on men, and is strong in proportion to 
their manliness; manliness that is surcharged with the 
heroic element, that knows the beauty and power of 
self-sacrifice, tliat loves the country for the good of , 
the community, and makes one willing to shed all or 
a part of his blood to secure perpetual peace, honor, 
liberty and virtue to the rest of his fellows. This 
stamina, this kind of courageous manhood is the 
glory of any people. Virtue is a quality equally neces- 
sary in art, literature, commerce, politics, war and 
religion. It is a factor in the religion of the church — 
Christianity ; it is an element in the religion of the 
state -Patriotism. And you, veteran sirs, are here to- 
night because you wish to show your devotion to the 
noblest qualities of oar civilization, viz : religion and 
patriotism, love of God and love of country ; nay, more, 



the love of God who is no respecter of persons, the 
love of country whose Declaration of Independence 
says " that all men are created equal and endowed by 
their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among 
which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." 

Equals, then, according to the will of God and the dec- 
laration of man, we come to-night to build afresh upon 
the altar of memory the sacred tire of patriotism. Pa- 
triotism is as instinctive to the normal citizen as self- 
preservation. It is a heavenly gift. It is loyalty to 
your country and its welfare. It is the source and the 
life of honor. Because it was admired, practiced, 
reverenced by your comrades resting 'neath nature's 
verdant mantle, we are here to-night to do honor to 
their memory. In the Good Book we are told that 
Jesus loved us and gave himself for us (Gal. 2 : 20). 
Now what more can we ask of one than to give him- 
self for us? Christ died to make us holy ; you died to 
make us free. He was a prophet, and more ; you are 
soldiers, and more. A prophet is not without honor 
save in his own country ; a soldier is hardly with 
honor save in his own country. The soldier of a 
country is the consummate flower of the patriotism of 
that country. 

Veterans of Charles Sumner Post, G. A. R., I am 
so glad that you have had opportvinity to show to 
the world the patriotic fire of your souls. You re- 
member the exiled Jew's patriotism expressed itself in 
a religions canticle that ran like this : " Upon the 
rivers of BabUon, there we sat and wept, when we 
remembered Ziou * ^ * "^ but the defiled Negro's 
patriotism expressed itself in no minor tones of He- 
brew wailiug, but in giving both to the Revolutionary 



and the Civil Wars the first blood of their struggles 
(Crispus Attacks and Nick Biddle, respectively). 

There are those who doubt the patriotism of our 
people, but if they "read history with their eyes and 
not with their prejudices" they may easily see their 
mistake. However, their notions are not without some 
reason ; what race would suffer the civil inconveniences 
that Ave have suffered and continue to suffer, and still 
love the institutions of the country ! What race sings 
more lustily than ours of " the land of the free and the 
home of the brave" ! We do this with the proud con- 
sciousness that if we are not freely accorded our rights 
we will show our countrymen a real superiority by de- 
serving them. De Tocqueville took a gloomy view of 
the black man's presence in America. He could see 
nothing but a precarious existence for a race that was 
alien to the common blood of the country, hence unable 
either to unite with or to separate from the dominant 
race. But even the more or less accurate prophecy of 
this student of political institutions has not changed or 
interfered with the onward progress of a race whose 
great heart quality makes it possible to love even its 
enemies. Not that the American is a real enemy to 
the Negro, but in too many cases he is an enemy to 
the scriptural doctrine of the brotherhood of man ; to 
the just plea of equality of opportunity. But in spite 
of all, our fathers and brothers have never faltered in 
their duty to defend with their blood the Stars and 
Stripes, that the symbol of liberty might not pass from 
the Occident. Veteran sirs, you come here to-night for 
no compliment from me, but it is due you and the mem- 
ory of the honored dead to say that the record of the 
colored soldier is one of the finest examples of disinter- 



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ested patriotism the world lias ever seen, and should 
be written on the pages of history in letters of gold, 
lie fought for the liberty of others before he had his 
own. He died for a country he could hardly call his 
own. He defended the honor of the country one day 
in 1898, but his wounds had not healed before certain 
sections of the countr}^ whose flag and honor he planted 
on a beautiful hill in the " pearl of the x\ntilles", were 
scheming to rob him of the shibboleth of his liberty — 
the ballot. 

If you were pessimists you might with the exiled 
Jew hang your harps on the willow and refuse to sing 
because in a strange land, but born in the dawn of 
optimism, though rocked in the cradle of adver- 
sity, you have never yet grown faint-hearted or dis- 
couraged. Like Job, who in the clutches of affliction 
looked to the source of all blessing and said " though 
he slay me yet will 1 trust in him," so the blacks with 
undaunted loyalty have ever turned to the American 
Flag and likewise saluted it. You see, veteran sirs, in 
my eulogy to the honored dead I am seeking to preach 
the gospel of patriotism that they left as a legacy to 
this and coming generations; a patriotism born out of 
their spilt blood, which is our remission from the taint 
of slavery, our atonement for the mistakes of the 
past. 

Patriotism is loyalty dressed in freedom's robe, that 
stands on the hill of the present, holds aloft liberty's 
light to retrospect the deeds and records in the valley 
of the past, and to greet the promise of good times 
from the heralds of the future. Thus, we see that 
pjitriotism is a subtle influence that plays over and in 
the past, present and future. Those who forget the 



noble deeds and the lofty inspirations of the fathers of 
the past, cannot give worthy character to the sous off 
the future. Patriotism is a duty and it also teaches a 
duty. The duty it teaches is this : tiiat we should be 
willing to do that which is our duty to do. A para- 
graph from a private letter of Charles Gounod, the 
composer, better states what I have in mind, viz : "We 
are not in this world to do what we wish, but to be will- 
ing to do that which it is oar dut}^ to do." In the 
providence of God it became your duty to make for 
yourselves and your posterit}^ a country; you did it on 
every battle-field in the history of the United States. 
Having won a country and a name it became your 
duty iu common with other Americans to defend it 
with the same blood that purchased it ; you did it. 
Having defended it, it is your duty to contend for the 
full enjoyment of the fruits of your costly purchase. 
What are the fruits ? The right of the ballot, equality 
before the law. It is a perversion of logic to say 
that a man is tit to purchase the right of suffrage with 
his blood, but is not fit to use it, though he purchase 
it. Let us have and hold every right implied in Amer- 
ican citizenship. As in old Rome every subject was 
proud of the words, Civis Romanus^ so let us be proud 
of the words Civis Americanus. We have not all 
been soldiers nor can we be, but we may be, nay, we 
are, American citizens and patriots. Beecher said that 
mothers who are bringing up their children in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord, are writing better 
declarations of independence than ever Thomas Jeffer- 
son inscribed. Humble fathers, though they never 
shouldered arms, who are training their children in 
essential manliness, in self-reliance, iu independence 



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making them ashamed to beg and proud to rel}- upon 
their own resources, are patriots. The school- teaclier, 
the honest business man, the conscientious editor who 
gives wings to helpful information, the preacher, the 
missionary, the quiet artisan, all Avho worked for en- 
larged manhood and truer liberty, are patriots. But 
the soldier more than any man deserves to wear the 
patriot's badge of honor, and memory must never 
grow weary of garnishing his grave with the flowers of 
devotion. I am pleased that you show in the name of 
your Post, appreciation of a man who after the Civil 
War fought for civil rights, and became by violence of 
Southern passion almost a vicarious sacrifice for the 
race whose cause he championed. Long live his mem- 
ory ! Long live the memory of the noble dead on 
whose graves, in whose blood, he founded his argument 
for civil equality. 

The purpose of a memorial service is eulogy. Eulo- 
gy though born of appreciation is worth but little if it 
is not religious. Religion and patriotism happily al- 
ways go hand in hand, but at this season of each year 
they clasp each other in holy embrace. At this service 
we may learn from the silence of the dead the mean- 
ing of the liberty we now enjoy. There is nothing 
more costly than libert}'. There is nothing preferred 
before it. Onlv those who know what it is are willing 
to turn the blood of the race into a stream of sullen 
red, to perpetuate it. The comrades whose memory 
we honor to-night laid down their lives for us, but 
thank God when one dies for right principles, he dies 
into larger life. These soldiers laid down their lives 
for the perpetuation of the Union, for the maintenance 
of just government, for equality of meritorious man- 



hood, for the abolition of slavery, for the diffusion of 
knowledge, for the development of order, for the 
spread of commerce, for the encouragement of science 
and the arts, for honesty in politics, for righteousness 
in the nation, for the freedom of the press,'for the lib- 
erty of conscience, for the protection of feminine vir- 
tue, for manly courage, for the open door to all forms 
of industry and for every responsibility, burdensome 
or pleasing, which is the demand or guarantee of our 
Republican form of government — for these and more 
than these, our negro soldiers in common with the 
white soldiers died. These perhaps are greater bless- 
ings than they thought they were winning, but they 
won them just the same. Veterans, you got your prac- 
tice in the handling of arms in the Civil War, but did 
you notice how well your sons honored the good name 
bequeathed to them in the Spanish-American War ? 
Did it give you any hope, or make you think that your 
labors Avere not in vain to see them get there so glori- 
ously ? Steady as the nerve of your brothers at Wagner, 
Pillow or anywhere else, was also the nerve of your 
sons at San Juan. The world honors bravery ; hero 
worship has not yet passed from the land. God him- 
self is good and peaceful, but he has always somehow 
honored the fighting man. I do not mean the fussy 
man, but the fighting man. He gains glory on the field, 
honor among comrades and preferment in civil life. 
This is as it should be. I heard a man say the other 
day " the old soldier has got everything his way in 
this administration." I was glad to hear it even if it 
was not quite true. They ought to have it their way, 
for without them none of us would have had any way. 
Their blood purchased our liberty; let those remaining 



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eat the fruit of the land aud sit at the best places at 
our political tables ; aud may the eojoymeuts of peace 
partially repay for the risks of war. 

Fellow couutrymen, veteraus, patriotism is a uoble 
virtue. By commending its divinity to 3'ou, I best 
honor the men who died because of it. It is a senti- 
ment that pervades every human breast. The senti- 
ment is so universal that no nation is without it, and 
in the highest state of civilization it grows into an 
exalted passion. The lines of Walter Scott : 

Breathes there the man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 
This is my own, my native land, 

suggest the contempt of a man without the love of 
country. 

Southe}', I think it was, said, think what virtues arise 
out of feelings connected with the words, home, birth- 
place, native-land. Intelligence easily perceives a vital 
connection between even topograph}' aud patriotism. 
There is also the most vital union between patriotism 
and sacrifice. You have heard of the great chasm that 
opened in the Roman Forum, which the soothsayers 
said could not be filled but by that which was most 
valuable to the State. Then Marcus Curtius, an emi- 
nent soldier, mounted his war-horse, and full armed 
rode into the gulf, a noble sacrifice for his country. 
This conduct agrees with Virgil's idea, viz: "The 
noblest motive is the public good." This example of 
patriotism, according to Roman fable, while good, is 
too ancient for you modern veteraus, but perhaps I 
can bring in a better example. I need not, for your 
minds are stored with scores of noble examples 



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more tliiilliug than I can relate. I have in mind, 
however, a good story of a negro who was a pa- 
triot before he conld be a soldier. A company of sol- 
diers defending Rodman's Point were overpowered by 
the enemy, and took possession of a scow, in which to 
cross the Tar river. When loaded it stuck fast in the 
mud. Exposure was certain death. Several soldiers 
were about to spring out from the sheltering sides to 
push it off, when a strong negro said, "You keep still, 
and save your life. I can't light : I can push oft' the 
boat. If they kill me, it is nothing. You are soldiers, 
and they need you to tight." He leaped overboard, 
pushed the boat into the stream, and fell back pierced 
b}" seven bullets, a sacrifice to patriotism. Patriotism 
and religion are allies. In fact, patriotism is a kind of 
religion itself. A patriot is the best citizen; a praying 
patriot is the best saint. Pathetic stories of dying 
soldiers are often related, but those that breathe their 
last giving sweet religious testimony live longest in 
our memory. I am not a soldier, save of the Cross of 
Christ ; but I feel a thrill of joy at the record you and 
your comrades in the grave have made. I understand 
that this service is a memorial to them. But in fact 
it is our own memorial. They need no marble 
cenotaph, for their monuments are already erected 
by their own imperishable deeds. They left their 
home at the call of their country ; went through 
flood and flame, and storm, and cold, and hunger, and 
thirst, and sickness, and blood and death. They loved 
us and gave themselves for us. Since the}^ were laid 
away the old world has gone on just the same. Their 
graves have been greeted each day b}' the kiss of the 
rising sun, his golden rays have covered their green 
breasts. Since they heard the boom of cannon, the 



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rattle of tnusketrv and the tieice yells of their brav 
•comrades, the face of the world has fairly changed, bi I 
the pale moon bathes with her silvery light those ha) 
lowed spots where rest their houored dust. The set 
sous come aud go; they rest ou till the judgmeut 
But we shall uot forget them. Brave men of courag< 
we love their memory ! Standing here to-night in th 
presence of the remnant of those who escaped, in th 
providence of God, death on the battle-field, we pledgv^ 
ourselves, on account of the ideals of our country aud 
the greatness of their sacrifice for these ideals to staud 
by the colors — the American Flag. I am an American 
citizen because the patriot's blood made me one. So 
are you. Veterans, friends, everybody, hear me. Our 
enemies may talk of all kinds of schemes for solving 
problems that arise by reason of our presence in this 
country, but as long as there is an old, musty, or 
mouldering tombstone to mark the grave of a -negro 
soldier who fought for "liberty and union, one and in- 
separable, now and forever," we will point to it as the 
reason and the right of citizenship. And go away from 
this country? No, sir; as for me I did not bring my- 
self here and I am not going to take myself away. Our 
forefathers came to this country ou a very pressing 
invitation ; the invitation to go away, though it has been 
given, has not since 1621 been pressing enough to be 
obeyed, aud since our military service has been so 
valuable even the meanest white man is forced to get 
rid of us by the slow process of lynching, and for 
every one l3^nched a thousand are born. After all, 
veterans, God has hold of this country. All we have 
to do is to love it aud give ourselves for it, aud when 
the reveille of heaven rolls and the bugle sounds up 
yonder we'll be there. 



Hollin 

pH8 

Mill Run I 



